


God Is My Judge

by SweetPollyOliver



Category: Cobra Kai (Web Series)
Genre: Cooking, Daniel tries his best, Domestic Fluff, Father-Son Relationship, Jewish Character, Johnny trying to be a good dad, M/M, Shabbat | Sabbath | Sabt
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-24
Updated: 2020-10-24
Packaged: 2021-03-08 17:08:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,951
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27170185
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SweetPollyOliver/pseuds/SweetPollyOliver
Summary: “Oh, so you’re observant all of a sudden?” Robby asked. “Why the sudden interest? You weren’t there at my bar mitzvah. I don’t think you were there at my bris, for God’s sake. Did you get an early Kol Nidre appeal or something?”“I want to be a better dad,” he replied. “Please.”Johnny invites Robby to Shabbat dinner. Along the way he ends up with an overinvested goyische friend in Daniel LaRusso.
Relationships: Daniel LaRusso/Johnny Lawrence, Robby Keene & Johnny Lawrence, past Shannon Keene/Johnny Lawrence
Comments: 13
Kudos: 82





	God Is My Judge

**Author's Note:**

> Big big thank you to walkthegale, SamIAm and iamgwenslongroadhome for sensitivity reading for me and to cobrakay for giving it a beta
> 
> Disclaimer: I am not Jewish, although I do intend to convert. Like Daniel in this fic, I did my very best, but this is not own voices
> 
> For people unfamiliar with the cultural details I have referenced in the fic, there are further notes at the end
> 
> This is set in a very optimistic post season 2 universe where Robby does not end up in juvenile detention.

When he’d mentioned to Shannon in passing that he was Jewish the first time they met, she’d lit up. 

“Me too!” she’d said.

“Really?” he asked, teasing. “What about that river in Ireland you’re named for?”

“My Hebrew name is Shoshana,” she said with a smile. “How about you?”

He flushed suddenly, although not for any reason that was easy to explain. 

“Daniyel,” he said, finally. 

*

Before he was born, Johnny and Shannon had decided to name Robby after Bobby Brown. They knew he was going to be a boy (neither of them were much for waiting for shit) and they weren’t all that traditional anyway. Bobby had been thrilled. They hadn’t decided on a Hebrew name yet. 

Laura Lawrence-Weinberg died three days shy of becoming a grandmother. The days after Robby was born were a blur of alcohol and pain. Afterwards, he couldn’t remember what exactly he had done. He hadn’t been sitting shiva with Sid, that was for damn sure, but neither had he been there for his new son. Johnny hadn’t been there when he was born, he had barely been there to take Shannon home from the hospital, his mind still stuck in the cemetery (Sid had taken one look at him when he’d arrived at the funeral, hungover and maybe even still a little drunk, and said, “You are not giving the eulogy.” 

Which. Yeah. Fair enough. She didn’t deserve that.)

When they got home from the hospital, Shannon thrust the kid into his arms and ran for the bathroom, shouting, “Don’t drop him,” behind her. 

Robby looked up at him with his fuzzy short sighted baby eyes with an expression that looked confused and for a terrible second Johnny worried he was going to cry, that he missed his mother already. _You and me both, kid,_ he thought. He got a lump in his throat and offered his kid his index finger to hold. 

When Shannon came back she hung back in the doorway and watched them for a minute.

“Hey I was thinking,” she said sotto voce. “How about we call him Leor. For your mom?”

Tears slipped down Johnny’s face and one splashed on his son’s cheek. Already getting his feelings all over the poor little bastard. 

“Yeah,” he said. “I’d like that.”

*

He wasn’t a great father. That was… maybe even too generous. He was a shitty dad. But there wasn’t anything he could do about the past, except drink, and that had lost its appeal. 

He wanted to try. He wanted to do better by Robby. He invited him over for Shabbat dinner. 

His kid looked at him and said, “Dad, you spend Friday nights eating cold pizza in front of the TV.” 

“Well, maybe I’m changing that,” he stuck his chin out. 

“Oh, so you’re observant all of a sudden?” Robby asked. “Why the sudden interest? You weren’t there at my bar mitzvah. I don’t think you were there at my bris, for God’s sake. Did you get an early Kol Nidre appeal or something?”

“I want to be a better dad,” he replied. “Please.”

Robby held his gaze for a long beat and then looked down and away.

“Okay,” he said. “I need to cancel something, but I’ll be there.”

*

The next day he got a text from Daniel LaRusso. 

_“You never told me you were Jewish.”_

He snorted and nearly deleted it, but something made him type out laboriously on his new phone:

_“Really? It never came up in our talks about heritage and religion?”_

Seconds later his phone buzzed again.

_Ha ha, but fair enough. Italian and lapsed Catholic, in case I forgot to mention it in our many deep and meaningful conversations._

He smiled faintly.

_”Wow, I thought u were a WASP. What will they say @ the country club?”_

Daniel didn’t text him back and he didn’t think much more about it.

*

Early on Friday afternoon, Daniel LaRusso turned up when he was almost done proving his challah. Most of what he’d be eating with Robby later was store bought and just needed to be heated through or plated up, but he’d wanted to make some kind of an effort. Whatever made him think bread would be the easy option…. 

“Hey, man,” he said, slightly bewildered at the sight of the nervous looking lapsed Catholic on his doorstep. “I’m in the middle of something, is everything okay?” 

“Everything’s fine!” Daniel said. “Shabbat shalom, by the way.” 

Johnny smiled unexpectedly. 

“Thanks.” 

“I just wanted to say that I have- Uh, when Robby ate with us last week, I, uh… I made him meatballs. And grated parm on ‘em. Which, I don’t know, it’s already pork, but does that make it worse? But I, I didn’t know at the time and-” 

Johnny 100% did not keep kosher and unless things had changed in the last few years he was pretty sure neither Shannon or Robby did either. That being said. 

He affected a frown. 

“Well, thank you for being honest,” he said sternly. 

Daniel’s face twisted painfully and Johnny felt like it was his birthday. 

“I know he’s not a little kid or anything and he can make his own decisions, but do you think that he felt pressured and didn’t want to insult me?” Daniel asked. 

Johnny took mercy on the guy. Not very Cobra Kai of him, but increasingly he wasn’t very Cobra Kai these days anyway. 

“Robby’s a big boy,” he said. “If he had a problem he’d have told you. And past cooking him dinner tonight I don’t really get a say in my son’s diet.” 

Daniel smiled beatifically. Johnny pushed away the sudden thought that seeing that look on his face was even better than seeing him all broken up. 

“Thanks, Johnny,” he said. “I’m sorry for bothering you; it was just preying on my mind.” 

“No problem,” he replied. Daniel turned to go and he found himself calling out again. “Hey, hang on, you have a daughter: you know how to braid?” 

* 

When Robby arrived later, Daniel was still there, sitting at the kitchen table and laughing at Johnny’s shitty jokes. His son looked so glad to see him that Johnny asked him to stay for dinner. 

When he lit the candles he was struck by the play of shadows and light on Daniel’s face, before he covered his eyes to recite the blessing. 

Afterwards, he called Robby over to him and, trying not to feel self conscious, cupped his face in his hands and looked him in the eye. 

“Yesimcha Elohim ke’Ephraim v’che’Menashe. Yevarechecha Adonai veyishmerecha. Ya’er Adonai panav eilecha viyechuneka. Yisa Adonai panav eilecha veyasem lecha shalom,” he said solemnly, while Robby’s face twitched in amusement. 

When he was done he leaned in to hug him, figuring they weren’t at the forehead kissing place yet, and Robby met him half-way, squeezing him tightly. He pulled back and put a hand back on his son’s cheek. 

“Shayne punim,” he said, and Robby rolled his eyes, but in a playful, smiling way that was more than he’d dared to hope for. The way he’d used to when his mom praised his pretty face. 

Behind them, he heard Daniel sniff, and he turned to huff a quick laugh at him gettin’ misty. 

“You got one too, LaRusso,” he said to the baby-faced 51 year old and Daniel gave him his million dollar smile again. 

He felt more happy than he could remember. 

* 

It was very cute how hard Daniel tried. He must have been keeping a calendar of holidays on his phone or something, because towards the end of September Johnny got another text: 

_”Happy New Year!_ 🍎🍯” 

And, about a week into October: 

_”Happy Yom Kippur!”_

which he laughed his ass off about for a full minute. 

* 

The fact that he never disabused Daniel of the idea that he kept kosher gave him increasing avenues of entertainment as Daniel started having him over and cooking for him. Never on a Friday, he was keeping that free for Robby, but at least once a week he’d be in that big ass house in Encino with Daniel LaRusso all flustered because he wasn’t sure he’d kashered the oven right. Johnny was pretty sure the guy had bought a skillet that was just for him, which was hilarious. 

“I made vegan bacon out of carrots, is that okay?” Daniel asked him, sliding a heaping bowl of carbonara across the table his way. “Or is like- is a facsimile of the thing also not okay? I should have just asked you, I’m sorry.” 

He started pulling the bowl back and Johnny stopped him with a fork. 

“You did good, kid,” he said. “Stand down red alert.” 

“You’re such a nerd,” Daniel said, flushed with pleasure. 

“Am not,” Johnny replied. “And don’t think I don’t see you trying to get me to eat vegetables.” 

* 

Somewhere along the line Daniel read someplace that food cooked by a goy wasn’t kosher, so he started getting Johnny to help. Just turning the stove on and giving the food an occasional stir at first, but eventually he had him doing the bulk of the prep work and washing most of the dishes. 

As Daniel gently corrected his grip on his $300 dollar carbon steel chef’s knife, Johnny thought that maybe the bit had gotten away from him at some point. He couldn’t quite bring himself to be annoyed by it. 

* 

“Are you and Mr LaRusso dating?” Robby asked him and Johnny choked on his gefilte fish. 

“Uh, no,” he said, as soon as he finished coughing. “Why’d you say that? He’s married.” 

He didn’t comment on the fact that they were both men and he felt the weight of that omission for a moment while his son looked at him, still contemplative. He shook the feeling of discomfort off. He didn’t want secrets from Robby, and anyway, this wasn’t such a big deal. It was 2019. 

“He and Mrs LaRusso are separated. Didn’t you notice that she was never over there when he had you to dinner?” he replied, after a second. 

“I figured she just hated me,” he said, rubbing the back of his neck absently. 

“Well, there is that,” Robby replied with a grin. “But, yeah, they’re, like, filing paperwork, the whole nine yards. So. If you _wanted_ to shoot your shot… I’d be okay with that.” 

“Oh my god!” Johnny covered his face with his hands and Robby laughed at him. “Okay, yeah, thanks for that, kid.” 

“You’re welcome,” Robby said, still smiling. “But seriously, you guys are good together when you’re not kicking each other’s asses. If that’s as friends or something else, I’m cool with it.” 

Johnny reached over and took his hand and gave it a quick squeeze. 

“Thank you,” he said more firmly. 

* 

One night, when Daniel was over at his place watching some dumb action flick they’d both imprinted on before they were mature enough to have good taste, Johnny caught a glimpse of him from the side, face lit up by the TV screen, and, on an impulse, leant over to kiss him. Daniel flinched away and Johnny actually felt his heart clench in his chest. 

“Sorry,” he mumbled and got back on his side of the couch. “I dunno what I was thinking, I-” 

“No, Johnny, I want to,” Daniel said earnestly. “But I ate, like, half a prawn cocktail before I came over here; I have treyf mouth.” 

Johnny said nothing for a moment and then bent over double laughing before leaning back in and pressing their lips together firmly. 

“I’ll tell you a secret,” he whispered against Daniel’s mouth between kisses. “I’ve been known to have a little Italian sausage.” 

**Author's Note:**

> *The title "God Is My Judge" refers to the meaning of the name Daniyel/Daniel
> 
> *A goy is a non-Jewish person. This is not insulting and is equivalent to the word gentile. Goyische means "not Jewish"
> 
> *Shiva is the week-long mourning period in Judaism for first-degree relatives. The ritual is referred to as "sitting shiva" in English. The shiva period lasts for seven days following the burial
> 
> *Johnny mentions that he and Shannon are "not very traditional" in naming their son after Bobby - in Ashkenazi communities it would be very unusual to name a child after someone still living 
> 
> *Leor is the masculine equivalent of Leora, both have the meaning "my light"
> 
> *Shabbat is the sabbath and occurs between sundown on Friday to sundown on Saturday
> 
> *Bar mitzvah is a Jewish coming of age ritual for boys (whereas bat mitzvah is a Jewish coming of age ritual for girls). According to Jewish law, when a Jewish boy is 13 years old, he becomes accountable for his actions and becomes a bar mitzvah
> 
> *A bris, or brit milah, is a Jewish religious male circumcision ceremony traditionally performed when a male infant is eight days old
> 
> *In the words of SamIam "The "kol nidre appeal" is a famous donation beg, because Kol Nidre takes place literally last second before Yom Kippur starts when you're trying REALLY REALLY HARD to shove in a year's worth of good deeds and repentance and charity into 10 days between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur so you aren't written down for the book of death for next year"
> 
> *Shabbat shalom is a greeting given on the sabbath
> 
> *Kosher foods are those that conform to the Jewish dietary regulations of kashrut, primarily derived from Leviticus and Deuteronomy. Food that may be consumed according to halakha is termed kosher in English, from the Ashkenazi pronunciation of the Hebrew term kashér, meaning "fit." Notably, pork is not kosher and it is not kosher to eat meat and dairy in the same meal (the amount of time that must elapse between eating meat and dairy varies depending on individual practice, but grating parmesan onto pork meatballs is definitely not kosher)
> 
> *Further to the previous point, there are many Jewish people, including religious Jewish people, who do not keep kosher. Daniel has made an ass of u and me
> 
> *Challah is a braided bread
> 
> *Johnny blesses Robby with a traditional blessing given by parents to their children. What he says translates to "May God make you like Ephraim and Menashe. May God bless you and keep you. May God shine light on you and be gracious to you. May God turn toward you and grant you peace."
> 
> *"Shayne punim" is Yiddish for "pretty face." This can be used to describe either the person's face or the person themself. It is a common endearment used towards younger relatives
> 
> *Rosh Hashanah is the Jewish New Year and, in 2019 when the fic is set, it fell from the evening of September 29 to the evening of October 1. One of the most popular Rosh Hashanah customs involves eating apple slices dipped in honey
> 
> *Yom Kippur fell from the evening of October 8 to the evening of October 9 in 2019. Yom Kippur is a day of atonement and fasting and is a somber occasion. You would not wish someone a "Happy Yom Kippur." The most common Jewish greeting on Yom Kippur is g’mar chatima tovah (pronounced gih-MAR chah-tee-MAH toe-VAH), which literally means “a good final sealing.” This greeting, often just shortened to g’mar tov, references the traditional belief that a person’s fate for the coming year is written on Rosh Hashanah and sealed — i.e. finalized — on Yom Kippur. This greeting can be used in the run-up to Yom Kippur, and in the early hours of the fast itself.
> 
> *To kasher an oven is to make suitable to cook kosher food. It's a pretty involved process, for more details see this webpage https://www.myjewishlearning.com/article/kashering-stoves-ovens/
> 
> *Daniel buys a skillet just to make food for Johnny, because his other kitchenware is not kosher and would in turn make food cooked in them not kosher. Ideally, he should have two: one for dairy, one for meat.
> 
> *Gefilte fish is a dish made from a poached mixture of ground deboned fish, such as carp, whitefish, or pike. It is traditionally served as an appetizer by Ashkenazi Jewish households
> 
> *Treyf is a Yiddish word which means "not kosher"


End file.
